As I stood to leave the small well-lit loft of the nearby community center, I felt somewhat convicted that I needed to do the one thing I never wanted to do. Publicly run a grief group. I looked around the room as people slowly trickled through the door, grabbing a cookie for the road that … Continue reading November Chill
Grief is a murderous beast, yet silent as it stalks the living. I knew that the moment I found myself in it. That I had to survive it and somehow help my girls survive it also. It's not really talked about in the mental health community and you cannot find a specific grief specialist to … Continue reading To See or not To See
My youngest daughter, while walking out the door today said she was quitting her internship at the local NAMI art therapy position. I asked why? I thought it was a good fit? She went on to tell me how her instructor for the internship had told her that her losing her sister was meant … Continue reading Things Not to Say…
In the late hours of 2015 Mikenna got mono. It came as a surprise to us because in 8th grade her best friend and her shared everything and they both tested positive for mono. This was the first time I learned that although the virus lays dormant, some people have it reactivated. Those people are … Continue reading The Leprosy of Loss
I was driving home from visiting my oldest daughter for her birthday. It's a long tedious drive I had done dozens of times. After losing her sister, only 20 months younger than her, and her best friend, I count every birthday as a blessing. She finally looked like my beautiful girl again, except now she … Continue reading Into the Storm
The day before we left on our mission trip as a family, I wondered what on earth possessed me to consider taking four of us on a mission trip at the same time. We were working, playing sports, and wrapping up the school year, along with getting ready for our exchange student, starting our nonprofit … Continue reading Deer Hope
The conversations around my house for weeks were centered around Prom. You can blame Disney, social media, or our culture, but being a pretty princess is somewhere in our DNA or at least part of our little girl daydreams. The talk was on dresses and shoes, clutches and nails, dinner and transportation, make-up and hair. … Continue reading Defining Grounded
I sometimes struggle with the idea of being broken. First of all, we are all broken in different ways. I used to say, "no one gets out of this world alive." What I meant by that was that everyone has their "stuff." Years ago, I used to think I was the only one that … Continue reading Broken Pieces
Raven and Roses 